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Tuesday, 10 November 2009

Two Lindas - Barnard and Fox - comment on the departure of their former Toronto Sun colleague, Pat Surphlis.

Linda Barnard, now at the Toronto Star:

"What a sad thing to hear that The Sun is letting Pat Surphlis get away. She is such a classy person; so clever, enthusiastic and creative. "Pat's warmth and style made everybody who worked with her feel special, from clients and advertisers to Sun staff. I'll never forget how she made those Fitness Weekends run like clockwork. "All the best Pat - I know there are great things ahead because any company that snaps you up will come up trumps."

Linda Fox, laid off in 2001:

"Pat was a great promoter of the Sun . . . and God knows the paper could use a promoter now more than ever before. But the Quebecor mentality is pathetic. I often wonder why the few people whose names I know, who still work there, keep hanging on.

"Pat did not deserve a trip to the loading dock after 25 years of service (hard service too . . . she was always a number one Sun cheerleader). No one who put in the countless overtime and selfless hours that she did deserves a boot in the backside.

"To some of the loyalists who are left, do you think PKP really knows your name? The address 333 King St. East isn't Cheers . . . it has long ceased to be a place where 'everybody knows your name.'

"(The Sun) was a great place; a fantastic place at times; I had magical moments travelling the world on press trips for the travel section, meeting interesting people while writing for the business section . . . but the Cinderella ball is over folks."

2 comments:

Another example of PKP's merciless formula being applied to human resources....when will this stop...when will the shareholders rise up against this meglomaniac...you can't promote a product which is trying to kill itself..you can't save a ship which is being driven relentlessly at an iceberg and you can't help but cry at the waste of talent from all floors...newspapers will not die but to survive they need to be freed from the tyranny of the bean counters and to apply innovative ideas and strategies...sadly this does not seem to be on the radar at Quebecor..not at 333, not at the LFP, the Bowes papers and the other papers in the chain...it's as though local content and good local coverage were an inconvenient truth.

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